Air passengers in UK face highest flight taxes across entire world

Michael Bow is a reporter at City A.M. covering private equity, funds, investments and asset managers. He can be reached on michael.bow@cityam.com

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UK passengers are paying much higher air passenger levies than travellers from other countries (Source: Getty)

Brits flying off on long haul holidays this summer will pay nearly £50 more tax than travellers from other G7 nations, a new ranking of air passenger levies has found.

UK travellers will pay £71 each in tax for a long haul economy flight, compared to an average £23 levied in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, and the US, accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young said.

Globally, air passengers pay an average of £35 in tax for long haul flights.

UK air passenger duty is also the highest in the EU, despite attempts by the government to reform the rules.